


Verratene, ten years later

by QuintessenceA



Series: Made and Broken [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Underfell Sans (Undertale), Worst-Case Scenario Challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:49:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21875449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuintessenceA/pseuds/QuintessenceA
Summary: I'm just posting 'cuz I'm having fun with this story and my drafts keep deleting. Set about ten years after Made and Broken. King Gothic, or Verratene as he's known to the people, comes across a reminder of the scarecrow who ruined everything.Red lives everyday in fear of the one he loves most. Still, he has hope. There are worse things to be afraid of.Pure "I love my characters, let's see what happened after I destroyed their lives" indulgence. I don't expect anyone to read it, it's a horrible timeline and full of OCs :P
Series: Made and Broken [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576882
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [msbigboots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/msbigboots/gifts).



Walking out of Grillby's bar, Gothic shook his head. Grillby knew he had Muffet by the short hairs when it came to crossing Snowdin territory and his price reflected it. The Spider and the Fire Elemental were never going to see eye-to-eye, not in a thousand years. He looked towards Waterfall, and a wave of nostalgia hit him. 

He wondered if the sentry post was still there. 

"Hey," he said, getting RG o1's attention. "I'm heading to the first Waterfall station. Meet me there."

It had become an irritating fact of life that they wouldn't let him out of the castle without a bodyguard. It was purely for show, since it wasn't like they could actually keep one on him. Though Sans would be certain to bitch him out if he just completely ditched the guard again. But there was no reason the guard couldn't catch up later.

He took a shortcut.

Dropping out next to the echo flower and his dad's old Sentry Station, he walked over to it. It'd been a long time since he was last here.

It brought back memories. Too many of them. Of better days, with his brother. When he ran the Masks. When he still cared. When his dad was happy. All of it destroyed. All by those two worthless, moth eaten…

The breeze picked up, lifting from the water. And with it, an offensive smell of rotting vegetables.

His head whipped towards it. It wasn't possible. 

Just then, RGo1 caught up, running in from Snowdin. Gothic had to hand it to him, the monster was fit. He wasn't even breathing hard. 

"Do you smell that?" He asked. 

RG01 leaned into the wind. "Smells like, compost?"

"Exactly. Come on, we're going after it." He started to jog into the breeze, and RG01 followed up behind. 

Around the next corner, a pair of snake monsters nearly tripped him, fleeing from the other direction. They look terrified.

He grabbed one of them by the throat and lifted it up. RG01 tried for the second, but it slipped from his grasp. "What are you running from?" Gothic demanded, lifting the snake to face him.

"It got Sisal! Scary! Run!" The snake yelled with a frantic wiggle.

It was all the confirmation he needed and Gothic dropped the snake. As it slithered off to chase after its friend, Gothic took off running, RG01 right on his heels.

The scent was gone, but Gothic kept going until he reached an open space. There was fresh dust on the ground. Putting a hand up to RG01 for silence, Gothic looked around. The breeze was steady here, but that wasn't why the smell was gone. The scent would vanish when the magic that called it was dropped. The magic of Jute and Burlap's Aura.

It wasn't possible. Jute was dead. He'd killed that stupid doll himself, and it wasn't like Burlap had any way to escape the killing damage! Though… he hadn't actually seen them dust before he'd left, had he?

"Jute!" He yelled into the gloom. "I know you're here! Come out and face me, you coward!"

Only the wind answered him, rustling through the reed stalks. 

"My liege?" RG01 asked carefully after a minute had passed. Gothic ignored him, his eyelights scanning over every inch of the cave. 

But... what if it wasn't Jute? Maybe Burlap actually had escaped… somehow.

"Burlap! Is it you?" He called. "You're not scared of me, are you? Come on out and say hi! What's the worst that could happen?" 

Movement, in the reeds. The mulch-like smell began to rise again, primed but not active. He turned towards it, claws twitching. This time, he'd make sure to watch that fucker turn to dust!

A Scarecrow appeared, gliding almost silently out from between the plant stalks. It wasn't Jute or Burlap, but the scent of the Aura was coming from him. He was young, a teenager, probably just barely on the edge of stripes range. 

His clothes were striped, made of tattered rags of black, white and gray that dangled loosly and hid his figure. On his head, he wore a mage's hat, wide-brimmed and floppy. One of his eyes had been replaced with a copper aperture, like a camera shutter. The other eye... 

He had the same oil slick eye as Jute and Burlap. But more to the point, the haughty, dismissive glare he gave with it was a dead ringer for Jute's.

"How do you know those names?" The Scarecrow asked, his voice eerily similar to Burlap's.

Gothic did some quick mental math. It's been what, ten? Eleven years? This kid would have been little, hardly a toddler. A baby brother, maybe?

"Oh, the twins and I go way back," Gothic sneered. "It's been a long time since I've seen one of you. You look like them."

"You knew them?" There was the faintest note of disbelieving hope. "You knew my parents?"

"Parents?" Gothic asked, and he couldn't help but laugh out of sheer surprise. Who'd have thought they'd kept such a secret!? At the sound, the Scarecrow stiffened. "Is that so?! Well, isn't this fucking precious? Yeah, I knew them. Never before or since have I ever met a pair of monsters so smart, yet so Stars. Damn. Stupid!"

Sudden, sharp hate twisted the creature's face. "It was you."

"Me?" Gothic didn't try to stop the sly grin that spread across his face. "Me who?"

"You're the one who killed them!" The Scarecrow yelled, a surprisingly loud noise. And then the Aura struck, full-force.

Gothic saw RG 01 take a step back, but just like he'd remembered, Gothic saw nothing in it but darkness. He felt no fear from the creature moving in its depths.

"My king, look out!" Gothic felt himself get roughly shoved to the side, right as the sound of an explosion went off. Gothic looked at the Scarecrow, and saw it was now holding some sort of long metal tool. A gun, maybe? Gothic didn't know much about human weapons.

It didn't seem to be very effective, either. RG01 stood tall, but there were multiple little holes peppering the side of his armor. It had barely done scratch damage.

From across the cave, the Scarecrow was on the move. He dropped the weapon, which hung on a rope and disappeared back into his shifting rags, only to pull out a second. RG 01, unconcerned about the miniscule damage, charged forward. The Scarecrow took aim, and fired.

It hit RG 01 square in the chest this time, and he didn't even have time to cry out as his body instantly faded to dust.

"The fuck was that?!" Gothic yelled, taking a step back.

"Your turn," sneered the Scarecrow.

Gothic took a shortcut, jumping behind the monster. He watched him stare in disbelief for a moment, but Gothic must have made a noise because he immediately turned around, weapon raised. Gothic grabbed it, yanking it right out of the monsters hands. 

The shock on his face was priceless, but Gothic was in no mood to be amused. With his claws he sliced the rope that held the weapon and threw it away. The scarecrow reached after it and Gothic grabbed for his arm. He caught it, and spun the monster around, crushing the lightweight body to his chest and trapping his arms.

"Isn't that sad," he mocked, "you're just as pathetic as they were. That was a nice trick though, taking out RG 01 like that. How'd you do it?"

"Let me go and I'd be HAPPY to show you!" The monster struggled furiously, but there was no strength behind the movement. It was like clutching a dress full of twigs, and about as tough. He didn't seem to have any legs, but Gothic could feel pieces of metal bumping his own, more of those weapons, he supposed.

"RG 01 was one of my strongest, and your first attack did nothing. So. Tell me how you killed him," Gothic ordered, squeezing tight enough to hear a crackling noise from his chest as the scarecrow struggled to breathe.

The was a whistling sound, and something shot for his head from the side. He jerked, taking a handful of scythe like bullets to his shoulder. The were cold, like ice.

Another teenager, this one a large Snowdrake with a shoulder bag, was standing on the field, readying more bullets to throw. "Put him down!" the bird yelled. 

"Cute," Gothic said with a smile. "Or what? You'll make me?"

"You bet I will!" He yelled, launching more bullets. Gothic summoned a bone, knocking them aside easily. The scarecrow continued to struggle, but the effort was laughable.

"Franklin go!" Yelled a female voice. 

Franklin Go…thic? Gothic paused. Was someone calling him? Someone that knew his name? His real name?

In the second it took to consider it, Gothic had failed to realize that the bird and the scarecrow both had stopped fighting, pausing to cover their ears.

Then the scream hit him.

Gothic staggered, dropping his bone construct and the scarecrow both to throw his hands over his skull. The shrieking build and built, until the edges of his vision began to white out.

And then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

They were gone. And Gothic was alone.

Gothic couldn't believe it. The scarecrow had escaped. Part of Jute and Burlap had been wandering around for years, and he'd had them in his claws, only two let it escape! With a roar, Gothic took a shortcut back to the castle. He would find that monster if he had to rip the Underground apart to do it.


	2. Sans meets the Trio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I love Red

Sans was passing time in the Judgment Hall when he suddenly heard Gothic screaming in rage from the throne room.

The door flew open, bouncing off the wall with a dull thud. "Guards!" Gothic yelled. "Where are you?! Fucking Guards!"

Sans stepped back, letting the pillar cover him as one by one the royal guards filled the Hall.

"There you are! I need you to find a scarecrow for me! It was just in Waterfall! I want it here!" Gothic stopped walking, and Sans moved until he could see Gothic in the reflection of the glass behind him. He had a clear line of sight on the Guard, but they ignored him.

"Where's 01?" RG02 asked, stepping forward.

"Fucking dead!" Gothic shouted. Sans saw him look around, his eyelights falling onto RG05. "05! You're 01 now! I want you all to go to Waterfall, right fucking now, and find this scarecrow for me! He's about 13, 14 and dressed in black and white rags with a stupid hat" 

Sans frowned. That sounded personal. Gothic didn't DO personal stakes. Not since he ran out of people to betray him. As far as Sans knew, he was the only one Gothic still feared betrayal from. And fuck if that wasn't a prominent feature in Sans's nightmares.

"And watch the fuck out," Gothic continued, apparently on a full blown tirade. "Because he uses human weapons and fuckin' one shot RG01 with it! His physical strength is shit, though just get close enough to grab him and drag him here. I want that fucker here in my hall, NOW!"

The Guards saluted, but Sans didn't missed the glare 02 gave 05 as they left the Hall. When Gothic retreated to the throne room, still none the wiser to any eavesdropping, Sans took a shortcut after the Guards.

Just outside the Judgement Hall, RG02 had RG05 held against the wall by his neck. RG03 and RG04 had apparently gone blind and deaf to it, already gone halfway down the corridor.

"What the FUCK did you do to get promoted?" Rg02 demanded, and Sans saw his grip tighten. It didn't matter what answer RG05 might have, he had no way to give it. 

"Nothin'," Sans said, stepping up beside RG02. The guard gave a quick hateful glare at his victim before dropping RG05 to the ground. 

"Chancellor," RG02 began. "I-"

"I don't wanna hear it," Sans interrupted. "Just don't do it again." He looked down to where RG05 laid gasping on the ground. He'd be fine. "King's bein' lazy, that's all this is. It's easier to change just one of yer names than all four of ya. It don't mean a damn thing. 02, you're the highest rank. And, 05?" Sans asked. 

When he didn't get a response, Sans looked to RG02. Without a word, RG02 grabbed the other by the arm, hauling him up to face Sans. Sans nodded at him. "See? This is why you're in charge." Reaching out a hand, Sans grabbed RG05's chin. "You might be 01, now, but you're still low monster, ya got it?"

'01' nodded weakly, and Sans let him go.

"Alright, you two get outta here," Sans ordered, putting his hands in his pockets as he started to walk away. "By the way," he called over his shoulder, "if you find anything about this scarecrow, call me."

He didn't bother waiting for an answer. He left them to it, and took a shortcut to Waterfall.

It only took a few questions before Sans found out about the scarecrow. Apparently, he was real popular among the Tems. Part of a trio, as word had it, and all Sans had to do was spot either a snowdrake or a bat monster with a messenger bag in the dump and he'd be lead right to him. He wasn't worried about the Guard finding out, the Temmies were less than chatty with anyone from New Home. It was only because of Sans's good history with them that they even spoke to him after becoming part of the 'monarchy'. Stars, Sans still hated even thinking about it.

After finding a nice, half filled bean bag, Sans found a decently high shelf in the dump and settled in for the hunt. It took the better part of the day, but he finally spotted a bat monster digging through a pile of mostly dry debris. Just as promised, she had a messenger bag. Bingo.

He moved closer to see her better. She was small, skinny and the grey dress she wore was utterly shapeless, so it was hard to say her age. Late teens or early twenties, probably. Her face tickled his memory. The young woman was familiar. It took him a minute, but he realized she looked like that friend Lombok had. The one with the cookies. Pain rang through his Soul. That had been the last time he'd seen Lombok's smile. He remembered the way his son had laughed as Sans placed that hotcat on the roof for his friend.

Sans gave a bitter frown. Gothic liked to think of himself as the tragically betrayed one, but it was Lombok that truly deserved the title. Someday, maybe he'd ask Gothic what really happened. 

…no. Probably not.

Delilah, the name came to him. That had been the woman's name. He remembered her death, he'd been helpless to save her from Gothic on that terrible day. Hadn't Papyrus mentioned she had a sister?

The young woman's face lit up when she pulled a badly damaged art set from the debris. His guess that she may be some kind of artist hit a bump when she only took out a few pencils and tossed the rest back. Maybe she just liked black and white? Though she had a red bow in her hair. 

As soon as she was done, she spread her wings and took to the air. He followed from a distance, taking shortcut after shortcut but still he nearly lost her. She was quick, and there was definitely an element of luck involved when he just happened to be looking at his old sentry station by the echo flower as she ducked behind it.

Sans blinked in surprise. Clever. He hadn't thought anyone even remembered the door existed. Hell, he'd worked that station for years, right in front of it, and he'd almost forgotten about it. He followed, nudging aside the old door in the wall. There were scuff marks on the floor, proof that the door had seen a lot of use since he was last here. 

Sans had to hand it to these kids, they knew how to make themselves scarce. 

Once on the other side, he moved more slowly. The tunnels were tighter here, making an ambush harder to anticipate. Darker too, the luminescent fungus smaller and more spread out, leaving large areas of pure darkness. One such area hid a side path, and he only saw it as he passed by, the faint glow of his eyelights disappearing into the gloom of the new trail. 

Poking his head down the path, he saw another mushroom, the kind that didn't emit light until someone touched it. Slowly, Sans began his way down the darker path, keeping an eye on the floor until he came across another one. Sans nodded, impressed. He didn't dare touch the mushroom, knowing that activating one would likely set off a chain reaction of the rest. Which was a great idea if you were supposed to be here and needed a path, and a good warning system for the owners if you weren't. Sans moved carefully, only the dim glow of his eye lights to guide him as he carefully watched every step.

It was a good thing too, and the only reason he didn't stumble right into a well disguise trip wire. He took a moment to admire it, noting that it was designed to trigger the light system. It lacked the finesse of one of Papyrus's traps, but it didn't look bad for a bunch of kids in Waterfall. There was plenty of space above the trap, and Sans had the suspicion that someone much larger than him regularly used this path.

The trap was made for detection, not damage. A few feet deeper into the cave, Sans found another trip wire, and he looked up-

Only to find himself staring down the twin barrels of a shotgun!

On pure reflex he took a shortcut, back and to the side, his Soul pounding. At this distance he could barely make out the gun, but he saw it wasn't moving, frozen directly over the trip wire. Sans almost laughed aloud when he realized it was just another trap.

He made his way around it, and again there was plenty of room. These traps were simple, and easy to avoid once you knew they were there, clearly only to catch the unwary. The next surprise came when he reached a large ravine splitting the tunnel. Curiously, a single thread was strung across the gap. Shattered rocks made for a low ceiling, too low for anyone to jump across, and too unstable to climb. If you couldn't fly, you weren't getting to the other side. Well, fly… or use a shortcut.

Once there, he didn't see anymore traps, and began to hear sounds as he reentered the tunnel. It sounded like two stones clacking together, and a muffled argument. It grew louder as he got closer, at least three voices. Light filtered out from somewhere down the path.

"No you can't!" A feminine voice was saying.

"Yeah," a deep voice agreed. "You're a wanted fella, don't you get it?"

"What do you expect me to do then?" Hissed a third, weaker voice as the stone on stone noise took on a decidedly irritated pace. "It's not like he'll sell to you!"

Reaching the final corner, Sans peeked an eyesocket around the wall, using the uneven rocks to hide his skull as best as he could.

There was a wide cavern on the other side, the size of a large room. The blue light seemed to be coming from the ceiling, shining from glowing ice crystals that must be attacks. Probably belonging to the snowdrake, a massive youth, easily twice the size of the other two combined. He sat in a corner, fiddling with something made of glass. The bat woman was standing beside him, facing down the room's third occupant. 

"Obviously you're not going to listen to me," the woman was saying, rubbing her temples with a hand. "Otherwise you'd have left the Sisal contract to Franklin!"

The scarecrow, a tattered young monster, just as Gothic had described, was sitting in front of a short table, angrily crushing the charcoal pencils into a mortar and pestle, the source of the clacking sound. The tabletop around him was covered in powders of various colors.

"You were taking forever!" The weak voice belonged to the scarecrow. He rolled his eyes, and Sans saw that one was metal. "I don't want or need you to babysit-"

He froze, catching sight of Sans mid eyeroll. Suddenly, all traces of youthful defiance vanished, replaced with straight backed authority.

"Down!" The scarecrow shouted, and the other two reacted immediately, dropping to the floor. There was a small breaking sound as the bird's glass object hit the stone. In the same moment, Sans took a teleport a few feet back down the tunnel, reflexes well trained to react to a command like that, no matter the speaker. A strange smell caught his attention as he hunkered around a rock, waiting for whichever of the three would be the first to appear. 

But never in a million years would he have expected Stretch to walk out of the cave. The tall skeleton was slouched forward, even further than normal, and his eyelights were dim with sorrow. Orange stains ran from his eyes, as if he'd been weeping but had finally run out of tears.

"Red," Stretch said, his voice cracking. "You let him die."

Sans froze, unable to move. "St-Stretch? What, no, I-!"

Stretch's honeyed voice was scratchy, weak from crying. "I finally fixed the machine to find you, only to find you'd let our child die. You let everyone die. How could you be so useless?"

"U-useless?" Sans stuttered as he felt his eyelights gutter out. No, no he wasn't! Stretch, he didn't understand!

Then a thought struck him. "The machine!" He yelled, and immediately took a shortcut. There was a sound like a shotgun firing, but it vanished with him. He landed in his old basement. If the machines were connected again, then maybe he could find a Frisk, and maybe they could reset! 

The basement was dark, and Sans hit the light to reveal the sad hunk of machinery that sat dormant in the corner. Sans ran to it, grabbing at wires and tubing, desperate to find which part of it was resonating…! 

But there was nothing. No warmth, no lingering magical residue from another synchronized machine making connection. It was as cold and dead as ever.

Sans stared at it in disbelief. That didn't make sense, there was no way that Stretch had been with the scarecrow if the machine wasn't… 

Oh. The scarecrow.

Confusion ebbed away, and with it the horror of seeing Stretch like that, the fear of Stretch knowing his failures. Stretch hadn't actually been there. It had been a trick. Cute.

Grinding his teeth, he began to make his way back, starting at his sentry station and making short little teleports to make sure he didn't pass the scarecrow. The bird was in the tunnel, carefully stepping over the trip wires with practiced ease. Sans moved on quickly before his eyes were noticed. 

He found the young woman just on the other side of the ravine. She was frantically inspecting the tunnel near the edge, where Sans had been before he teleported.

"I can't find any dust," she said, panic coloring her voice. "Please, please tell me you missed!"

"Why? It was just some skeleton." At the sound of his voice, Sans located the scarecrow a little deeper in the cave. His rags did a fantastic job of breaking up his form, blending him right into the shadows. He was leaning back against the rock with his arms crossed, and seemed to be pouting.

"Just some-! Please tell me you're joking!" The woman spun to face him, her wings twitching. "You're fucking with me because you think it's funny, and you actually do know who the Chancellor is, right? Tell me it's not because you're actually clueless, like how you didn't recognize THE FUCKING KING HIMSELF!"

"How was I supposed to know?" He asked with an insulting flip of his wrist. "I figured the King would be scarier. You know, big. That guy was skinnier than you."

"He's got to be nearly seven feet tall!" She cried, looking ready to pull her hair out. "And the metal fucking hand didn't tip you off?!"

The scarecrow hunched his shoulders, a show of sulking, but Sans could see he was smiling.

The bat resumed searching the ground. "The king has to know you're in Waterfall. When the Chancellor doesn't return, he's going to raze this whole region to the ground!"

Taking a quick shortcut, Sans spoke up from right behind her. "Then I'd best be back before dinner, wouldn't ya say?" 

When she yelped, spinning around to face him, he felt a mean sort of satisfaction. The old sneak up and scare them shitless trick. A classic for a reason.

The scarecrow moved forward, his tone irritatingly casual as he remarked, "Well, I guess I did miss after all."

Now that he was aware of it, Sans noticed when the magical scent began to radiate from the kid. 

"Gunner, wait, please, wait," the bat whispered to the kid, shoving him behind her and spreading her wings out protectively. The smell ebbed away. 

"Mr. Chancellor, sir," she said carefully. "My friend is so very sorry that he attacked you. It was the worst of misunderstandings and a mistake he'd never dream of making again."

Sans had his doubts about that, and let it show on his face as he stared at them.

"Please, sir," she added, "he's just a kid."

She flinched suddenly, like she'd taken an elbow to the back. 

"Oh, so the stripes must be your idea, huh?" He asked, nodding. "Sweetheart, we both know he's getting just a tad to old to pass 'em off."

Her expression wilted a little. She tried again. "He's still very young, and-"

"He's not buying it," the scarecrow, Gunner, as she'd called him, spoke up from behind her. "Move."

It was a command, plain and simple, and the woman obeyed, though she looked less than pleased.

Unobstructed, the scarecrow stared directly at Sans, his gaze stronger and more direct than that of monsters twice his age. So the youngest was the one in charge? Interesting.

"I do know who you are, Chancellor," Gunner said, saying the title like a curse. "I'm still alive, even though I had literally just tried to kill you, so you obviously aren't here to kill me. And I'm sure you know that catching me would be easier without my friends, but since you decided to scare Amaris just then instead of kill her, I'd say you probably left Franklin alone too, so that can't be it either."

"Heh." Observant little shit, wasn't he? Sans was beginning to see why he was in charge. He made a note of their names, the girl was Amaris, the bird Franklin.

"Why don't you tell me why you're really here?"

Sans looked him up and down with deliberate slowness. The kid may be have an eye for detail, but he really didn't look like anything special. "I'd kinda like to know why the king wants you so badly. Because trust me, kid, he'd really love to crush your soul in his fist."

"I have no idea," Gunner said instantly. "I'd never met the guy before today." The kid was a decent liar, but the Judge wasn't fooled. It was a half truth at best.

"What? You said he killed your parents!" The woman, Amaris, exclaimed.

The scarecrow shot her a scathing look. "I don't know what happened to them." Half truth. "I made that up." Lie. "And he didn't look all that strong anyway, I thought I could take him." Half truth.

Amaris boggled further. "You said he attacked you first!"

Gunner shrugged, appearing completely unfazed. "I say a lot of things."

"Sure ya do," Sans said with a sharp grin. "Any of 'em actually true?"

The scarecrow made a mistake looking offended. Too offended, and Sans rolled his eyes. "Verratene has killed a lot of parents. So what? You tried for revenge? That's not special either, and still doesn't explain why he hates you. Who were your parents?"

"Nobody," he replied. "I don't even remember them." 

The kid was a damn wall. Sans said nothing, waiting to see if he would crack and say something, anything. Gunner only stared back, unblinking. 

"If that's all," the boy said pointedly, "I think you're done here, right?"

Sans laughed. It'd been years since he'd seen such bold faced gall, especially from a kid. "Oh, no, I'm not ready yet. And don't think you'll be able to get rid of me with your little magic trick now that I get how it works."

Gunner gave him a challenging smile. "I beg to differ. I saw your face. In terms of fight or flight you're all flight. You'd bolt in terror in less than a minute."

That struck a nerve. Fucker. He was wrong though. "Wanna bet?"

"I sure do," Gunner replied with what sounded like real interest. "One minute, no tricks. 10 gold. Amaris, you have your phone?"

"Yes," Amaris said, looking pained. "But Gunner, please."

Sans laughed again. This Gunner had a pair, that's for sure. "You know what? Fuck it, you're on. 10 gold. Girly, mark it."

Clearly distressed, Amaris pulled a phone from her pocket, watching the time. At her nod, the kid's smile turned dark, and the rotten smell began again. Before Sans's eyes, the scarecrow's form shifted, growing taller.

Then the shadows began to cover him, growing dark. Darker.

Yet darker.

It's not real, it's not real, Sans told himself. His soul began to race anyway.

There was a sound, something just on the edge of hearing. Sans held his ground, because he would not run from this imaginary terror. The sound became sharper, forming a garbled noise like static. 

"…saaaanssss…"

No, it wasn't real. He wouldn't run. The noise grew, sound hitting an empty Void. Sans stared into it. There was nothing there! Nothing!

And then, suddenly there was. Cracked eyes stared back.

_Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit-!_

"…i found YOU…!"

Sans choked. He was wrong! It was real! Gaster was breaking out of the fucking Void while Sans watched! Fuck! 

A pale, broken hand shot out from the dark, and Sans's courage cracked. He took a shortcut. 

Back to his old sentry station. Sans grabbed the countertop and took a shuddering breath. He couldn't help it. His Soul had told him he was about to die. No, worse than that. Holy shit, that thing was strong. 

Once again, the fear drained away, and Sans didn't know whether to be pissed or impressed. Well, he'd lost a bet. Pissed it was. 

Sighing, he turned to the door. "I know you're there," he called. The bird was quiet for being such a big boy, but Sans hadn't lived this long by letting big monsters sneak up on him. "Ya missed me passing by the first time around. Met your little buddy, by the way. That Gunner's quite a pill, ain't he?" 

And he took another shortcut.

The scarecrow was lounging against the wall again, a look of such pleased smugness on his face he'd give Gothic a run for his money in pure attitude.

"You ran. Pay up," Gunner called.

"Gunner!" Amaris called, shocked.

"What? We had a deal."

"Heh, you sure are something, ain't ya?" Sans asked, fishing in his pocket. 

He stepped closer and held out his hand, gold coins lying across the bones of his palm. This close, he could hear the metal scrape of the shutter eye as the scarecrow blinked. Sans wondered what exactly he saw with that. Gunner reached out, and just as his glove grabbed the money, Sans's other hand shot out, grabbing him by the wrist.

"Let's go somewhere and talk, shall we?" Sans asked, dragging the surprised monster with him through a shortcut.

He pulled them to a quiet little alcove, shoving Gunner onto the bench as soon as they were out of the Void. The echo flower next to it repeated his hiss of pain and the sound of clanging metal from objects hidden inside his tattered clothing. Immediately, Sans noticed Gunner calling his magic.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sans warned, waggling one boney phalange at him. "We're up to the fool me twice stage. Third time is not going to end well for you. So unless you want to take one final jump straight to the castle with me you better drop it. Gunner, is that right?"

"What do you want?" Gunner asked, dropping his magic before finally pocketing the gold and crossing his arms. The picture of insulted defiance.

"Like I said," Sans said with a shrug, carefully watching the kid's face. "I wanna know why the king hates you so much. Not every day he has the entire goddamn Royal Guard hunting for a single person. Fact, it ain't never happened before. So why is it happening for you?"

"I don't know." Gunner said again.

"That look on your face tells me you at least know something," Sans said, leaning back on his heels. "Is it because of your parents?"

"I told you, I don't know!"

"Why did he kill your parents?"

"I don't know!" Gunner yelled. He turned his head, slumping on the bench with a scowl. "Why ask me anyway? You're the Chancellor, can't you just go ask the king yourself? Because I'll tell you one thing, he knows a lot more about it than I do!"

This was giving Sans a headache. After Papyrus and the boys, he'd have thought he'd be better at dealing with teenagers.

…but then again, after everything that happened to them, maybe not. 

Fuck it. He might as well keep digging. He decided to take a guess.

"Is that why you call yourself Gunner, because you got guns? So, what, a nameless kid of nameless parents needs somethin' to call himself, right?"

"They gave me a name!" Gunner snapped. Sans could smell blood in the water. So the kid didn't like to have his parents insulted? Interesting.

"Oh," he said, making sure to sound bored. "So they were smart enough for that were they?"

"Of course they were!" He hissed with real anger, and Sans could see the glint of metal points, like needles behind his teeth. "They were brilliant! Monsters told them that all the time because they did very important work!"

Well, what do you know? Cut deep enough and the truth bleeds out. Not a very helpful truth, but it was something. 

"Sure they did. Like what?"

Gunner looked like an animal that had been backed into a corner. Sans didn't know if he would run or bite. 

"How about you figure it out and come back and tell me, huh?" The kid said it mockingly, like he was actually giving a challenge. "Because I've been looking for years, and I've found moldsmals that left a bigger mark on the Underground! Nobody knows them, they're a mystery."

Then he said something that made Sans's marrow run cold. 

"It's like they never existed."

Sans blinked a few times to clear the image in his mind of Gaster reaching for him. He was probably going to have nightmares again tonight.

"This important work you said they did, was it in the Core?" Sans asked, much more pointedly than before. 

"I don't know the name of it. I was young, I barely remember it," Gunner replied with narrowed eyes. He was suspicious, but the chance for information had him almost cooperating.

"Sciencey place," Sans pushed. "Lots of lava, lots of lasers."

The scarecrow didn't need to say anything, Sans saw the recognition flash across his face.

Smart monsters, potentially scientists, that worked in the Core, but nobody remembered now. This was sounding eerily familiar. Sans sure as hell didn't like it.

"Kid, tell me now, and tell me straight," Sans demanded. "What happened to them? Did they fall in the Core? Is that how they died?"

Gunner's face twisted with a painful memory. "Not unless the Core rips stiches open and laughs like the king."

It seemed unlikely, but Sans didn't know enough about what the Core could or couldn't do to be sure either way. "What were their names?"

And suddenly, all trace of cooperation vanished. "No! You don't get that!"

Fuck. Back to this again. And he still didn't know why this kid was on Gothic's radar. Sans sighed. Well, he knew where the kid lived now. He'd do his own digging, and if the holes turned up empty then he could always come back.

"Fine, kid." Sans said, and Gunner watched him warily. He turned from the bench, taking a few steps forward. "I think that's enough for now, huh?"

He took a shortcut back to behind the kid, grabbed him by the shoulder, and took another one, dragging Gunner with him before he could resist. He dropped them out on the exit side of his ravine, the side he judged less likely to be crowded, and quickly stepped back.

"Gunner!" A pair of voices called from the other side.

Across the ravine, Sans saw the snowdrake had returned. He stood with the bat woman, and their faces were an interesting mix of worry, hope, confusion, fear.

Gunner didn't waste any time, choosing to ignore Sans entirely as he headed towards the gap. Curious, Sans watched. The kid could float, ghostlike, but did that mean he could fly? But Gunner didn't head straight to the other side, instead he moved to the lone thread strung across the space. He crossed it like a bridge, not quite touching it. Interesting.

Once on the other side, Amaris reached her arms out to him, and after a quick glance in Sans's direction, he moved into the hug. The bird, Franklin, gave him a quick pat on the back with a wing but kept his gaze on Sans.

Now that he was getting a real good look at the snowdrake, there was one more thing he wanted to ask.

"Hey, you three," he called across the gap.  
"Haven't you done enough?" Gunner asked, only to have Amaris immediately shush him.

Sans smirked, but ignored the question. He pointed first to Gunner, then to Amaris.

"So, the king killed your parents, and you're Delilah's sister." Her shocked expression confirmed it, and he moved to point at Franklin. "And lemme go out on a fucking limb here, because apparently the universe just loves ta fuck with me, and guess that you're Edvard's son?"


End file.
